Direct Investment Opportunities for the Little Guy/Gal

mds07 · #1 (**permalink**) 11-19-2007, 09:35 AM

I've been watching Dragon's Den, and have been envious for some time of small investors who were in the right place at the right time, and invested relatively small amounts of money in new start ups that went on to take over the world (Body Shop as an example) - netting their initial investors a huge return in the process.

I understand how business angels work, but these require large amounts of money that I don't have. I would love to be able to invest between £10 and £1000 in such new ventures.

I think this would bring an interesting element of higher risk/potentially greater returns to my portfolio.

Is anyone else interested? Does anyone know how this can be done?

brian · #2 (**permalink**) 11-19-2007, 07:58 PM

To be honest, £10 to £1000 is such a small amount in business terms that I can't really see it going anywhere, unless set up as part of a larger fund - and then you basically have a mutual fund focusing on business investments (and the risks of business investments!).

Triton · #3 (**permalink**) 11-20-2007, 03:08 PM

I agree with Brian. That small amount of money is not even economically sensitive. Even as part of a fund it doesn't make sense to me.

Those micro-loans (100 or more) work in selected third-world countries but in the developed world that is just a bad joke in my opinion.